Vestaburg stands
in way of Portagers first 3-0 start
since ’94
By MATT
WENZEL, Manistee News Advocate Sports
Editor
Published:
Friday, September 11, 2009 12:06 AM
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ONEKAMA — Two weeks into the season, Onekama
finds itself in an almost identical position as last year.
The Portagers (2-0, 2-0) are coming off wins against Big Rapids
Crossroads Charter Academy (36-6) and Baldwin (38-12), and have
Vestaburg lined up as their Week 3 opponent, just like 2008.
But, that’s where the Portagers want the similarities to end.
Last year, Vestaburg jumped all over Onekama early with a 36-0 lead,
before the Portagers posted a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns in a
36-12 loss.
“Last year, I think we were a little bit
overconfident going in there against a pretty good football team,” said
Onekama coach Jim Hunter. “As a team, we were pretty disappointed we
didn’t battle back and do better.”
Vestaburg will carry an 0-2 record into Onekama tonight, but it doesn’t
do the Wolverines much justice. Missed opportunities cost them in a
season-opening 12-8 loss to Breckenridge, and last week they battled
back from a 20-point halftime deficit before ultimately falling to
Manistee Catholic Central, 48-38.
With a bigger lineup and different units for offense and defense, the
Wolverines wore down the Sabers late.
“Those things concern me because we’re lean in numbers just like
Catholic is and they’ve got big kids and they platoon (on offense and
defense),” Hunter said. “We’re going to have to battle, and battle hard
the whole game. Really, I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
The Portagers’ conditioning will be tested tonight, but Hunter said his
players have already shown they’re in good shape as they attempt the
program’s first 3-0 start since 1994.
“Our kids have worked hard,” he said. “Our last game against Baldwin was
a four o’clock start, and it was a cooker. It was hot, and I thought our
kids held up well the whole game. I don’t think the kids ran out of gas
at all.
“We’ve had a good week of practice and I think condition wise, we’ll be
there. The other part of that question is mental fatigue. You’ve got to
be mentally tough to play tough and I’m hoping we’ve got to that point
now.” |
Onekama’s Jake Matthews (20)
rushed for 114 yards and caught a touchdown pass against Baldwin
last week. (Dylan Savela/News Advocate)
Senior Dan Gillespie is in his third
season as Onekama’s starting quarterback, and has been solid so far,
with four touchdown passes and another score on the ground, while
running backs Jake Matthews and Tyler Fogarty both have 100-yard games
to their credit already. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room
for improvement.
“We have a couple games under our belts now and we have some kinks
worked out and I think as a team we played pretty well at times,” Hunter
said. “It’s just a matter of getting consistent and eliminating those
mistakes and finding some intestinal fortitude, for the lack of a better
word, to hang in there when things go badly when you play good teams.”
The Portagers have outscored their opponents 74-18 through two games,
but Hunter said he knows his team will have his hands full tonight.
“We’re tickled to death to be 2-0 in the league right now,” Hunter said.
“This Vestaburg team poses a different challenge for us. It’s no knock
on the programs we’ve played, but they played a lot of young kids.
They’re building a program at Big Rapids, and (Baldwin coach) Doug (Bolles)
is playing a lot of young kids and we took advantage of those things.
“Now, we’re going to see a team that isn’t in that boat. They’re going
to put some quality kids on the field at every position and I’m looking
forward to the challenge to see how we’re going to respond.” |